One point that really interested me was the fact that Walker Evans rarely spent any time in the dark room. I understand that he was a creator and that his ideas made him a great artist, but I think the time that it takes to think of the image is as important as the time it takes to produce it. Painters do not have this dilemma because the create and work as they go but with photography there is a disconnect between the snap of the picture and the work afterword’s.
I don’t think this makes Evans any less of an artist I just feel that with most artist like to see there product all the way to the end and usually don’t like to let others get involved. This is just another odd but interesting thing that Evans did, and in some ways I think he liked to be different. Evans was taking pictures of such boring things with hidden meanings behind them and to regular people this was stuff that anyone could do. That is the genius with Evans while regular people just saw emotion and poverty, true artists could so the magic behind the image.
Baldwin Lee had an awesome perspective on Evans that I found very interesting. The fact that Evans didn’t care how much he exposed an image as long as he knew he had people who could fix it really surprised me. It goes back to how much an artist should be involved with the entire process. Lee in his own right must be a master of photography to work with Evans at all let alone help with the process. I’m not sure what to make of this disconnect between Evans and the formation of these images but either way I don’t think they lower his abilities or his greatness as an artist.
I also thought that the fact that Walker Evans spent little to no time in the dark room was interesting. Most artists feel the need to have creative control of a project from beginning to end. Most feel that their project is their "baby," and want it to turn out just so. Since Evans was able to remove himself from the dark room process, he was able to surrender his control to another, which I think added to the honesty of the photographs. The person put in charge of developing the pictures was disconnected from the scene, allowing them to print the picture without wanting to manipulate certain elements. I think that if Walker Evans had been the one to develop the photos, he would have wanted certain things to stand out more than others. This desire to highlight certain elements would hinder the honesty of the photos, thereby ruining its "documentary" title.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe Evans’ absence in the developing process made him any less or more of an artist. I think it was a defense mechanism used by Evans to protect himself from getting too attached to the people and places he documented. Lee Baldwin mentioned in his presentation that Walker Evans wished to never have contact with any of his subjects, or their ancestors, after leaving. Like any sociologist or anthropologist, he had to immerse himself in a new environment without letting his emotions come between him and the work that needed to get done. By skipping the dark room and alienating himself from his subjects, I believe he was merely protecting himself from becoming too emotionally involved.
Madeleine Foster